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The Founding of the Barfmoon Taints
Sinthaster leaned low, examining the crippled goblin before him. In the rain, caked in mud on this well-trod road, the beast looked truly pitiful. "You are beaten, beast. Tell me, do you have a name? I do not think Unquala weeps for your kind, but I may yet ask Her all the same." The goblin looked up, tears in its eyes. Sinthaster paused, unaccustomed to such tender emotion in a brutish race. The creature reached to the pouch on its back; despite the uncertainty, Sinthaster remained calm. The goblin pulled a book from the leather satchel and held it aloft. The septagram on the front relayed the contents of the pages perfectly. "The Holy Sojourn," Sin said. "What are you doing with that?" The goblin squawked in Hasseric, a language most men knew not. Sinthaster had paid his price, and spoke it fluently. "You're name is... Ratsniff?" "Yes," the creature said, "Ratsniff. Please, do not hurt my friends." Sinthaster turned to his Saints. Many held other goblins at sword-point or bound in chains. They had intercepted the roving band just outside of Baskerburg. Can't let goblins walk amok. "Goblins don't have friends," Sinthaster said, "they hardly have allies. What makes you different?" In broken human tongue, Ratsniff spoke as best his lips could muster: "I seek the Seven... so that I may re-record their wisdom for the children of... Man and those to come." The words of Dane the Sojourner. "Have you been reading this?" The goblin nodded. "Why?" Ratsniff paused a long while. He looked to the book, then to the sky. He made a motion of prayer, one directed not at Sin but to those he served. “Ratsniff wishes to undo the sins of my house, Lord of Mercy.” Sinthaster chuckled. "You pray to Fumna for mercy? After everything your kind has done?" "You would judge us for sins of our kind? Even if we ourselves have not committed such atrocities?" A gentle roll of thunder punched the point. Sinthaster, for a moment, had no response. "If you would not have me kill you, then what would you wish?" "We wish to join the Saints." Sinthaster laughed, a point echoed by Fáolain and Taurie. The other Saints remained silent. "I can't have goblins join the Saints. We are an order of Judgment, sowing the wrath of Húrin across Lancerus that people may be free of evil. Evil like you." "Men are born with the Dark Spirit, Sinthaster. Does this not also make man evil? An evil they may rise to meet and usurp, doing the Seven's will not in instinct but in labor?" "I must say, you are terrifically well-spoken for a goblin." "Give us a chance. Put us under... under a Geas. We will serve the Seven!" "I do not believe in Geasa, though I do have other methods..." Sinthaster spoke Vanessi words to the world around him, sliding his hand over his face as he did. A fragmented, glowing helm of Godsteel encased his face, his eyes burning with righteous truth. "With Húrins Faultless Visor, I shall ask you one question. Should you lie, I will know. Will you and all your goblin comrades here swear fealty to the Seven and the Saints, and do the works of good so long as you all shall live?" Ratsniff nodded. "You must speak it." Lightning lurched from the helm. Ratsniff did not waiver. "Ratsniff promises on his life and the lives of all those present, the Seven shall reign." The rain fell, and the helm of Húrin abated. "You spoke truth, goblin," Sinthaster said, smiling. "I cannot have you join the Saints directly, but we may be able to figure something out." He extended his hand, and Ratsniff grasped it. Standing on a wounded leg, Ratsniff smiled to his companions. "Sinthaster," Greyne said, "you... you cannot be serious. Lin would never allow this, the ''Seven ''would never allow this." "The Seven gave me authority upon my rank of Paladin, and I say, let these goblins prove their loyalty. They could be allies in ways no free race ever could. We need all the help we can get." "I suppose," Keirina said, "we should prepare an initiation?" "Ratsniff has an idea," Ratsniff said, tugging on Sinthaster's surcoat. "An idea to celebrate!" "Oh? And what would that be?" "Food!" Category:Character lore